Now available on CFI’s website are updated versions of tables covering historical statistics on campaign finance through 2014. These cover activity for full federal election cycles, in some cases dating back to 1974. Newly added this year are duplicate versions in nominal dollars and constant 2014 dollars. A sampling of the topics covered includes:

Spending levels in House and Senate elections, including how much it takes to win;

House and Senate spending by elections by competitiveness and type of race (incumbent/challenger, open seat);

Sources of funding for House and Senate races, including small v. large donors;

Independent and coordinated spending by political parties;

Independent spending by non-party organizations;

National Party Committee fundraising and sources of party funds;

Presidential election campaigns;

For the full list of data tables click here. Here are just a few of the highlights:

It costs more if you face competition. Incumbents in competitive races spent more than $2 million, on average. They still had a two-to-one advantage over their challengers, but that was a lot less than the six-to-one advantage for incumbents in safe races.

And the incumbents who lost spent about $3 million, compared to $2.1 million by their successful challengers. In every election since 1986, defeated House incumbents have outspent the challengers who beat them. (So much for the claim that more money automatically means more votes.)

Most House candidates get their money from big givers. Incumbents got 46% of their money from PACs in 2014 and another 36% from donors who gave $1,000 or more. Only 5% came from donors who gave $200 or less. This was the lowest small donor percentage since we started calculating the number in 2000.

Challengers and open seat candidates raised more than 40% from $1,000+ donors, with nearly another one-fifth from self-financing.

Senate candidates received 41% of their money from donors who gave $1,000 or more, 17% from PACs, 15% from self-financing, and 12% in contributions of $200 or less. (The $200-or-less number would have been lower if we could have aggregated donors’ contributions the way we do for all other offices, but the Senate chooses to exempt itself from electronic filing.)

House Republican incumbents had a nearly a two-to-one advantage in corporate and trade association contributions over their Democratic counterparts in 2014. The Democrats had the advantage when they controlled the House in 2008 and 2010.

INDEPENDENT SPENDING

Non-party Independent spending continued to soar. In 2008 – the last election before Citizens United -- there was only $40 million (adjusted for inflation) in non-party independent spending in House and Senate races. In 2014 that amount exceeded $500 million.

For a full list of available tables see the Historical Statistics page on the CFI website.

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The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit research institute. Statements of the Campaign Finance Institute and its Task Forces do not necessarily reflect the views of CFI's Trustees or financial supporters.